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Updated: 5/31/2020


Austronesian Comparative Dictionary




vam    var    vel    ven    vic    vil    vin    vio    vis    vot    

valuables:   goods, valuables

Iban bendamovable property of (ritual) value, esp. jars
Malay bendathing; article; esp. a thing of value; property, treasure
Acehnese beundaobject, thing, matter, affair, visible evidence, visible sign
Dairi-Pakpak Batak bendabelongings, property
Toba Batak bondagoods, property
Manggarai bendabelongings
Kambera bandagoods, property

Borrowing from Malay, ultimately from Sanskrit.

value, worth

Bikol balíequals (mathematics); all-in-all; adaptable
Hanunóo balígood, fitting, suited
Maranao baliprice, worth
  bali baliuse, relevance, importance, fit
Manobo (Western Bukidnon) balivalue; estimate the value of something in terms of money or goods
Tiruray baliworth (as to be worth ... )
Karo Batak baliequal, identical; as like; repaid, of a debt
Dairi-Pakpak Batak balieasily repaid, of a debt; same, identical
Uma baliagree with one another
Chamorro baliworth, value

The Philippine forms and Chamorro bali apparently derive from Spanish valer. The remaining items may have the same source, or may reflect *baliw₂.

vampire:   evil spirit, vampire, witch

Kapampangan aswáŋa frightening spirit creature, half-human, half-bird, vampire-like, said to prey on corpses and unborn children
Bikol aswáŋdevil or witch said to eat human flesh
Aklanon áswaŋvampire, evil creature (preying on people, sucking liver bile and leaving them weak or with some strange afflictions)
Cebuano aswáŋa person who is possessed of a supernatural force, which attacks from time to time causing him to change his form and go out, often to harm others, preying on their blood, livers, etc.
Maranao ansoaŋdemon, witch
Mansaka asoaŋdemon
Sangir ansuaŋgiant

Borrowing into Kapampangan from a GCPh source. It is possible that the suaŋgi/ of eastern Indonesia has a similar origin.

vampire:   ghoul, vampire

Kapampangan patianakdwarfish ghost or spirit
Tagalog patianakgoblin
  tianakfolkloric elf or goblin
Cebuano mantiyanaksupernatural being which preys on newborn infants. It drinks the blood from childbirth, and tries to get at the newborn baby's liver. If the baby dies he drinks the mother's milk without her knowledge and kills her thereby. It is pictured the size of a baby, with horns and fangs, with long pointed ears, dirty brown in color and angular in features. It has the ability to walk, change its appearance, and make itself invisible
Manobo (Western Bukidnon) mentiʔanaktype of long-necked deer supposed to be a demon who is actually a beautiful girl
Malay puntianakvampire; evil spirit preying on women in labor and on babies. Etymologically ; pati-anak (child-killer) ... Referrable to the Indonesian belief that an unnatural death creates a malignant spirit. The 'child-killer' is usually either (i) the ghost of a woman dead in childbirth or (ii) the ghost of a child murdered to hide a mother's shame
Malay (Baba) matianakvampire; evil spirit preying on women in labor and on babies
Sundanese kuntianakghost of a woman who dies during pregnancy or in childbirth, and who enters into other parturient women in order to enjoy the experience of childbirth which was denied to her
Javanese puntianakkind of evil spirit (Pigeaud)
  kuntilanaka malevolent female spirit (Horne)
Manggarai pontianaevil spirit
Rembong puntianakevil spirit

The essential content of this morpheme is a reference to women who have died in childbirth, and to the culturally perceived vindictiveness and malevolence that their ghosts feel, especially toward men. In Java it is said that the puntianak appears as a beautiful young woman in the twilight of the evening and tempts gullible men to follow her from the village. Once they are alone she turns and flees with a hideous shriek, revealing a hole through the middle of her back, her feet not quite touching the earth.

The forms cited here are conspicuous for their multiple phonological irregularities and apparent morphological reanalyses. This strongly suggests that the form has been borrowed, probably from Malay. According to Alton L. Becker (p.c.) a similar folk belief is found in Burma. If true it is tempting to hypothesize that the puntianak belief was ultimately borrowed by speakers of an early form of Malay from a mainland Southeast Asian source and subsequently disseminated through much of island Southeast Asia.

The problem with this hypothesis is that a similar belief is found among speakers of OC languages. For Nggela in the central Solomons Fox, C. (1955) cites vahuhu 'be born, give birth to', mate 'dead, death; kill, etc.', and vahuhumate '1. goblins that sing when the moon goes down. They have holes in their heads and backs, 2. die in childbirth'. What we have then, appears to be a belief that was present in PMP society, perhaps under the name *m-atay anak (cf. *aCay). For reasons that are unclear, the Malay or Javanese name of this belief was widely borrowed during a much more recent period of history, overlaying an older cultural distribution and presumably replacing the older name in most areas.

various, miscellaneous

Ilokano sari-sárismall store selling general merchandise
Casiguran Dumagat sári-sárivarious, variety, diverse
Tagalog sari-sáriʔassorted; different kinds; various, sundry
Hanunóo sari-sárivarious types; diverse
Aklanon sári-sáriassorted, varied, different; sári-sári store
  ka-sári-sáribe varied, be assorted/different
Hiligaynon saríclass, kind
  sári-sáridifferent, of mixed kinds, combined
Cebuano sariʔ-sáriʔall different types of things sold in one place; category of store which sells miscellaneous items in small quantities; be of all different types; dish made of pork with various vegetables and liver, and sautéed; dish made of various greens mixed with diced squash and eggplants and stewed; be varied or of different kinds
Maranao sari-sarismall store of mixed merchandise
Mapun sarīother, different
  pag-si-sarī-sarī-unto differentiate, set apart
  sarī manexcept, instead of, other than

Also Hanunóo sadisádi ‘miscellany; multifarious, various’. The history of this form is puzzling. Although it may have begun with the general meaning ‘various, miscellaneous’, in many languages it probably is a Tagalog loan that became widespread after the Spanish colonization and the introduction of a money economy. In any case, an assignment to Proto-Philippines would be incautious without further evidence of forms that are not likely to be borrowed.

various, suitable, equal

Ilokano bágayagree, harmonize; fit; be fitting, suitable
Bontok bágaysuitable; fitting; right; becoming; well-matched
Kapampangan bagay-anmatch something to something else
  bágematching, compatible
Tagalog bágaybecoming, proper, fit
Bikol bágayfitting, proper, suitable
Hanunóo bágaysuitable, fitting; responsive
Cebuano bágaybefitting, becoming; for instruments to be in tune
Maranao bagaipeer, equal
Malay bagaikind, variety, species
  ber-bagaiin various ways; different kinds of; (also) comparable, -- in such expressions as tiada ber-bagai (peerless)
Acehnese bagofësort, kind, manner; just like, identical to
Toba Batak bagevarious

Despite the semantic differences that distinguish most Philippine forms from those in Indonesia, all of these items appear to be products of borrowing, ultimately from Tamil.

vam    var    vel    ven    vic    vil    vin    vio    vis    vot    



Malay beleduvelvet
Simalur biluduvelvet
Mongondow biluduvelvet
Gorontalo biluduvelvet
Buginese biluduvelvet
Makassarese biluduvelvet (in stories translated from Malay)
Asilulu biludukind of cloth, felt

Borrowing, ultimately from Portuguese.

venom:   power, venom

Kapampangan bísaʔwant to
Tagalog bísaʔefficacy, potency; force
Aklanon bísaeffect, result
Maranao bisapoison, venom
Mansaka bisaʔsnake venom; stingray venom
Tiruray bisapoisonous; a poison
Kelabit bisaʔgreat, fantastic, terrific
Kenyah bisapoisonous
Malay (Jakarta) bisavenomous; ability to do, can
Acehnese bisapoison, venom (esp. of animals)
Simalur bisopoison; poisonous
  ma-misa-eto poison
Karo Batak bisapoison, poisonous (as a snake)
Dairi-Pakpak Batak bisaforce, power
Nias bisabe able to do something, know how to do
Rejang biseyinsect bite, poison injected through a wound
Old Javanese a-miṣabe powerful?, be poisonous?
  b-in-isaskilled, skilful
  ka-bisa-nskill, ability
Javanese bisacan, be able, know how to
  m-isato poison
  wisapoison, venom
Balinese bisabe able because one has knowledge or skill
Sasak be-bisaall poisonous things
Sangir bisavenom; venomous
Mongondow bisapower (both good and evil)
Gorontalo bisaanimal venom
Banggai bisasupernaturally powerful
Bare'e bisaclever; very wealthy; possess secret power
Buginese bisaproved by experience, tried
  bisa bisasaintly, working miracles
Makassarese bisahave a powerful effect (as a medication)
Bimanese βisahaving magical power; clever
Rembong bisacan, able
Sika bisawise, learned
Asilulu bisacan; poison,
  bisa-npotency, strength (of a potient)
Buli bisavenomous (as a snake)


vam    var    vel    ven    vic    vil    vin    vio    vis    vot    


(Dempwolff: *surak ‘to exult, cheer, celebrate’)

victory:   exult, celebrate (as a victory)

Tagalog suláksimmering; near the boiling point
Ngaju Dayak surakcheering (said to be from Banjarese)
Malagasy úraka ~ húrakaa noise, a clamor
Malay sorakcheering; applause
Toba Batak mar-surakgive out a shout of joy; to cheer, to hail
Sundanese surakto cheer, celebrate
Old Javanese surakshout, cry, roar
  a-nurakto receive with shouts, shout at, urge with shouts; jeer at
  a-surakto shout, cry, roar
Javanese surakto cheer
  ñurakto jeer at, boo
Balinese suraka shout, war-cry
Sasak surakshouting
  ñurakto shout
  te-surakto shout
Samoan sulaspeak sincerely from the very depths of one’s heart (like someone who is deeply moved); make formal acknowledgement, give thanks (for presents, honors, speeches, etc.)

Dempwolff (1938) posited *surak ‘to exult, cheer, celebrate’, but the relationship of the Tagalog and Samoan forms to the others cited here is open to question, the Malagasy form appears to reflect *kurak, and the remaining forms could be products of borrowing from Malay.


Saisiyat asaŋvillage
Atayal (Squliq) qalaŋvillage
Seediq (Tkdaya) alaŋplace of habitation
Bunun asaŋvillage

This word shows phonological irregularities that make a reconstruction impossible. The Atayalic forms point toward an etymon with medial *l, the Saisiyat form to one with medial *C, and the Bunun form to one with medial *S. In addition to this set Proto-Rukai *cəkələ, Puyuma dekal show similarities without regular sound correspondences, and these suggest borrowing of a different form meaning ‘village,’ implying that the notion of ‘village’ was not found in PAn, and once it was lexically encoded it tended to spread easily by borrowing.

village, place of residence

Saisiyat ʔasaŋvillage
Bunun asaŋvillage



Ilokano sukávinegar
  ag-sukáto ferment
  man-nukávinegar fly
  suka-ánto season with vinegar
  suka-énto make into vinegar
  suka-sukáadipose tissue at end of rumen of cows
Tagalog súkaɁvinegar
  mag-súkaɁto make into vinegar
  sukaɁ-ánto put vinegar on something
Maranao sokaɁvinegar
Iban aiɁ chukaɁvinegar
Malay chukapalm wine that has gone sour; vinegar

Borrowing, ultimately from Sanskrit chukra.


Malay biolaviolin; fiddle
Acehnese biulaviolin (of European manufacture)
Simalur biolaviolin .. be-biola play the violin
Nias biolastringed instrument, violin
Sundanese biolathe Dutch violin
Sasak biolaharmonica
Buginese biolaviolin
Makassarese biolaviolin
Rembong biolaviolin
Tetun biolaviolin, guitar
Asilulu biolaviolin
Buruese fiholaviolin

Borrowing from Portuguese.


Itbayaten ravilviolin
Ilokano rabélviolin

From Spanish rabel ‘type of three-stringed violin’, ultimately from Arabic.

(Dempwolff: *kenTel ‘viscous’)

viscous:   thick (of fluids), viscous

Malay kəntalthick (of liquid); viscous
Rejang keteaviscous, thick
Sundanese kəntəlthick, of fluids
Javanese kenṭelfirm, strong (as tea), solidified (as oil that has frozen), thick, viscous (as syrup); close, intimate
Balinese kentelsolidify, become stiff, coagulate; no longer liquid, thick, coagulated
  kentel-aŋbe thickened, stuffed full, crammed
  kentel-inbe thickened, condensed
Sasak kəntəlcoagulated

Also Balinese hentel ‘thick, close, dense, solid’. Given its distribution only on Java, Bali and Lombok and in Malay, but not in the Batak languages or other languages of northern Sumatra, or in Borneo, this is most likely to be a loan from Javanese. Dempwolff (1938) reconstructed *kenTel ‘viscous’.

vam    var    vel    ven    vic    vil    vin    vio    vis    vot    



Ilokano bótosto vote
Ifugaw (Batad) būtusvoting time for the election of government officia
Pangasinan bótovote; to vote is
Tagalog bóto(government) vote; (ecclesiastical) vow
Bikol bótovote; vote for
Aklanon bóto(h)to vote for
Cebuano bútuvote; cast vote for
Maranao botovote
Mansaka bótoto vote
Tetun botovow

The Philippine forms are borrowed from Spanish, Tetun boto from Portuguese.


Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, web edition
Robert Blust and Stephen Trussel
2010: revision 5/31/2020
email: Blust (content) – Trussel (production)